April 19, 2024

Residents attend multiple political events before the caucus

County residents jump party, style lines in attending forums

By Jason W

Frank Harger, of Newton, signs in on a form at the Jasper County Community Center during Bernie Sanders’ Jan. 9 event. Harger and other county residents were able to make the most out of the caucus season, going to multiple candidate public forums and meetings held by both parties. (Jason W)

Frank Harger was one of more than 100 people to show up to a public Republican presidential candidate appearance Dec. 30 — he was at a Democratic event about 10 days later.

Harger made sure he made it to as many candidate events as he could. In fact, last week, his Monday and Thursday visits to Democratic events sandwiched a GOP appearance he attended on Tuesday.

It’s not like Harger was just in it for the free food; many events were held at sites that had no refreshments. He was there to hear what each candidate had to say, holding off on deciding as long as he could.

“There is a lot of government waste,” Harger said after one of the bigger events, a Jan. 9 appearance by Bernie Sanders. “And the ‘stealing’ or ‘borrowing’ or whatever they call it, regarding Social Security, has to stop.”

Time is an important factor. Some caucus-goers are retired or have flexible work schedules that allowed them to hit multiple events. Jon Dunwell attended two GOP candidate events in one morning — Carly Fiorina in Colfax and Mike Huckabee in Newton.

Dunwell had his two sons, Addison and Bryce, meet Huckabee during the Republican’s appearance at Moo’s BBQ. The family ordered food during the event, and Bryce ended up eating a large plate of barbecued meat while sitting about 10 feet in front of the former Arkansas governor.

Huckabee, a sort of aspiring barbecue aficionado, asked Bryce at length about what he liked about the food. He smiled and pointed out he’d wiped his hands clean before shaking hands with Huckabee.

“We have got to take advantage of this,” Dunwell said. “Not every state gets to have this kind of experience.”

Independent, or “no party” voters, make up the largest percentage of registered Iowa voters.

According to data released by the Iowa Secretary of State on Jan. 27 there were 1,935,873 registered voters statewide. That includes about 725,000 who listed no party, 615,000 Republicans, 586,000 Democrats and almost 7,600 who listed other party affiliations.

Harger, like many caucus-goers, was concerned about Medicare and Medicaid as he listened to each candidate. He said all candidates intellectually know there must be sound fiscal policies in place.

“All the candidates call themselves fiscal conservatives,” Harger said. “That’s the hard part — figuring out which ones are the real deal.”

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com

Iowa CaucusesFiorinaHuckabee